London's continued vitality has been in spite of the absence
of a strategic authority. A boom in tourism, government and finan- cial jobs has coincided with a property price surge (soon to recommence) primed by tax breaks for the rich and lavish housing bene- fit for the poor. This needed no govern- ment overview. It is reminiscent of Lon- don's most spectacular expansion roughly between 1770 and 1870 — when a free market was left to its devices by cor- rupt parishes, poor law guardians and gov- ernment sanitation and railway acts. Even when the LCC arrived a century ago, deter- mined that 'something must be done', noth- ing much was done. The LCC built houses and schools and its successor planned motorway rings, thankfully unrealised. The most drastic post-war upheaval in London, in Docklands, was deliberately unplanned.
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